Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Act

UGANDA POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION ACT. ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. Section PART I INTERPRETATION. 1. Interpretation. PART II ESTABLISHMENT, OBJECTS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CORPORATION. 2. Establishment of the corporation. 3. Objects of the corporation. 4. Board of directors. 5. Duties of the board. 6. Powers of the board. 7. Meetings of the board. 8. Remuneration of members. 9. Seal of the corporation. 10. Custody of the seal. PART III FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE CORPORATION. 11. Functions of the corporation. 12. General powers of the corporation. 13. Acquisition of land. PART IV WORKS. 14. Interpretation of Part IV. 15. Survey and way leaves. 16. Electricity undertakers. 17. Interfering structures. 18. Removal of installations. PART V SERVICES. Postal services. 19. Letters to be conveyed only by the corporation. 20. Stamps, etc. to be issued by the corporation. 21. Rates and charges. 22. Liability for postage due. 23. Refund of wrong payment of money orders. 24. Proceedings for recovery of charges due. 25. Opening postal articles. 26. Obscene or prohibited postal articles. 27. Postal articles involved in an offence. 28. Postal articles with fictitious stamps. 29.

ostal articles. 26. Obscene or prohibited postal articles. 27. Postal articles involved in an offence. 28. Postal articles with fictitious stamps. 29.

Notice of departing vessels. 30. Duty of master of vessel to carry and deliver mail. 31. Payments to masters of vessels. 32. Liability of the corporation. 33. Regulations for postal services. Telephone services. 34. Exclusive right to provide telephone services. 35. Secrecy of telephone communications. 36. Interception and disclosure in public emergency. 37. Liability for interruption, interception, etc. 38. Regulations for telephone services. Telegraph services. 39. Exclusive right to provide telegraph services. 40. Secrecy of telegrams, etc. 41. Disclosure in public emergency. 42. Liability for interruption, etc. 43. Transcript of telegram to be prima facie evidence. 44. Regulations for telegraph services. Radio communication. 45. Application of radio communication provisions. 46. Licensing of radio communications. 47. Powers on occurrence of public emergency. 48. Regulations for radio communication. 49. Radiation of electromagnetic energy, etc. Savings bank. 50. Management of a savings bank. PART VI STAFF. 51. Managing director. 52. Secretary to the corporation. 53. Officers and employees of the corporation. PART VII FINANCIAL PROVISIONS. 54. Funds of the corporation. 55.

tor. 52. Secretary to the corporation. 53. Officers and employees of the corporation. PART VII FINANCIAL PROVISIONS. 54. Funds of the corporation. 55.

Borrowing powers. 56. Estimates and investment. 57. Accounts and audit. PART VIII OFFENCES AND PENALTIES. 58. Unlawfully conveying letters. 59. Fraudulently sending unpaid postal articles. 60. Selling stamps, etc. at wrong rate. 61. Unlawful opening or delivery, etc. of postal articles. 62. Issuing money order with fraudulent intent. 63. Transmitting prohibited or seditious matters. 64. Offences by master or agent of vessel. 65. Unlawfully maintaining telephone or telegraph apparatus. 66. Unlawfully intercepting or disclosing telegraph or telephone communication. 67. Forgery of telegrams. 68. Unlawful using or interfering with radio communication. 69. Unlawful sending or receiving messages. 70. Use, sale, etc. of apparatus in contravention of notice. 71. Damaging corporation property. PART IX MISCELLANEOUS. 72. Protection of employees of the corporation. 73. Compensation. 74. Restriction on execution against property of the corporation. 75. Service of notice, etc. on the managing director. 76. Regulations. 77. Savings. Schedule Subsidiary legislation under the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Act. CHAPTER 107 UGANDA POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION ACT.

iary legislation under the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Act. CHAPTER 107 UGANDA POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION ACT.

Commencement : 1 December, 1984. An Act to establish a Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation and for other purposes connected therewith. PART I INTERPRETATION. 1. Interpretation.

t to establish a Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation and for other purposes connected therewith. PART I INTERPRETATION. 1. Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— ( a ) "addressee" means the person to whom any postal article or telegram is addressed; ( b ) "authorised" , in relation to an officer or employee of the corporation, means an officer or employee authorised by the managing director to exercise the powers or perform the duties in respect of which the expression is used; ( c ) "franking machine" means a machine for the purpose of making impressions on postal articles to denote prepayment of postage and includes any metre or metres and any franking or date-stamping die or dies incidental thereto; ( d ) "local authority" means any city council, municipal council, township authority, district council or committee or other similar authority, established for the purpose of controlling or managing any city, municipality, town or local area; ( e ) "mail bag" means any bag, box, basket, parcel or other envelope or covering in which postal articles are conveyed, whether it does or does not contain any such articles; ( f ) "mail vessel" means any vessel in relation to which there exists any agreement for the conveyance of mail; ( g ) "master" used in relation to a vessel or aircraft means any person in charge of the vessel or aircraft; ( h ) "Minister" means the Minister responsible for this Act; ( i ) "money orders" includes postal orders; ( j ) "money order services" means the services performed and facilities provided in connection with the remission, in accordance with regulations made under this Act, of sums of money from one place to another place through the corporation by means of money orders; ( k ) "postage" means the amount chargeable for the transmission by post of postal articles; ( l ) "postage stamp" means any label, stamp or device currently valid for denoting any rate of postage payable in respect of postal articles issued under this Act or by the postal administration of any foreign country; ( m ) "postal article" includes any letter, postcard, newspaper, book, document, pamphlet, pattern, sample packet, small packet, parcel, package or other article whatsoever in the course of transmission by post; ( n ) "post frank" means any instrument for making any impression, and any such impression, denoting that a postal article may be transmitted through the post without prepayment or postage; ( o ) "post office" includes every house, building, room, receptacle, vessel, vehicle or place used for the purposes of the corporation; ( p ) "post office guide" means the document published by the corporation containing any matter required under this Act to be published in it; ( q ) "post office letter box" means any receptacle provided by the authority of the managing director for the reception of postal articles; ( r ) "post services" means the services performed and facilities provided in connection with— (i) the collection, transmission and delivery by water or by air from one place, whether within or outside Uganda, to another place, of postal articles; (ii) the issue of postage stamps and the use of franking machines; (iii) the issue and payment of money orders for the remission of money through the corporation; ( s ) "private bag" means a bag provided exclusively for the reception of postal articles intended for the user of that bag; ( t ) "private box" means a receptacle at a post office provided exclusively for the reception of postal articles intended for the user of that box; ( u ) "public broadcasting" means transmission by an authorised broadcasting station of music, speech and entertainment in sound alone, or sound and vision, intended primarily for reception by the general public; ( v ) "the purposes of the corporation" means any purposes necessary or desirable for the performance of the services, or the provision of the facilities, which the corporation is authorised or required to perform or provide under this Act; ( w ) "radio communication" means the emitting or receiving over paths which are not provided by any material substance constructed or arranged for that purpose, of electromagnetic energy of a frequency not exceeding three million megahertz being energy which either— (i) serves for the conveying of messages, sound or visual images (whether the messages, sound or visual images are actually received by any person or not) or for the actuation or control of machinery or apparatus; or (ii) is used in connection with the determination of position, bearing or distance, or for the gaining of information as to the presence, absence, position or motion of any object or objects of any class; ( x ) "radio communication apparatus" or "radio communication station" means any apparatus or station, as the case may be, for emitting or receiving of radio communication and where— (i) any radio communication apparatus or station cannot lawfully be used without a radio communication licence or could not lawfully be used without that licence but for regulations made under section 48; (ii) any radio communication in the form of messages, sound or visual images is received by that apparatus or station; and (iii) any apparatus is electrically coupled with that apparatus or station for the purpose of enabling any person to receive any such messages, sound or visual images, the apparatus so coupled shall itself be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be radio communication apparatus; ( y ) "radio communication licence" means any licence granted under section 46; ( z ) "radio communication services" means the services performed and the facilities provided in connection with the transmission of communications by means of radio communication apparatus; ( aa ) "telecommunications services" means the radio communication services, the telegraph services and the telephone services; ( bb ) "telegraph apparatus" means any apparatus, equipment or other thing used or intended to be used in connection with the transmission of communications or visual images by means of electric signals from one place to another place either along a wire joining those two places, or partly by wire and partly by radio communication or wholly by radio communication; but any such apparatus, equipment or other thing used, or intended to be used, solely for the transmission of signals by lights, bells or buzzers from one part of a building to another part of the same building shall not be deemed to be telegraph apparatus for the purposes of this Act; ( cc ) "telegram" means any communication or visual image delivered to the corporation or to the holder of a telegraph licence, intended for transmission by telegraph apparatus, any such communication or visual image in the course of transmission; and any such communication or visual image delivered by the corporation or such holder to the addressee or to any person for the addressee; ( dd ) "telegraph licence" means any licence granted by the Minister under section 39; ( ee ) "telegraph line" means any wire or tube used for the purposes of the telegraph services and any apparatus connected therewith; ( ff ) "telegraph pole" means any pole, post, tree or other thing used for the purpose of supporting any telegraph line; ( gg ) "telegraph services" means the services performed and facilities provided in connections with the transmission of communications by means of telegraph apparatus; ( hh ) "telephone" means an instrument used or intended to be used by any person transmitting or receiving any communication by means of the telephone services; ( ii ) "telephone apparatus" means any apparatus, equipment or other thing used or intended to be used in connection with the transmission of spoken communications by means of electricity from one place to another place either along a wire joining those two places or partly by wire from each of those two places and partly by radio communication; ( jj ) "telephone licence" means any licence granted by the Minister under section 34; ( kk ) "telephone line" means any wire used for the purposes of the telephone services and any apparatus connected therewith; ( ll ) "telephone pole" means any pole, post, tree or other thing used for the purposes of supporting the telephone line; ( mm ) "telephone services" means the services performed and facilities provided in connection with the transmission of spoken communications by means of telephone apparatus.

es" means the services performed and facilities provided in connection with the transmission of spoken communications by means of telephone apparatus.

(2) For the purposes of this Act— ( a ) a postal article shall be deemed to be in the course of transmission by post from the time of its being posted at, or delivered to, the post office to the time of its being delivered to the addressee or of its being returned to the sender or otherwise disposed of under this Act; ( b ) the placing of an article in any post office letter box, or the delivery of any article to an employee of the corporation or to a person employed in connection with the postal services in the course of his or her duties, shall be deemed to be delivery to a post office; ( c ) the delivery of a postal article at the house or office of the addressee or to the addressee (or to his or her servant or agent or other person considered to be authorised to receive the article according to the usual manner of delivering postal articles to the addressee or the inclusion of a postal article in the addressee's private box or private bag or where the addressee is a guest or is resident at a hotel, the delivery of a postal article to the proprietor or manager of the hotel or to his or her agent) shall be deemed to be delivery to the addressee.

l, the delivery of a postal article to the proprietor or manager of the hotel or to his or her agent) shall be deemed to be delivery to the addressee.

(3) For the purposes of this Act— ( a ) any reference to the emission of electromagnetic energy or to emission shall be construed as including a reference to the deliberate reflection of electromagnetic energy by means of any apparatus designed or specially adapted for that purpose whether the reflection is continuous or intermittent; ( b ) interference, in relation to radio communication, means the prejudicing by any omission or reflection of electromagnetic energy of the fulfillment of the purposes of radio communication either generally or in part and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, as respects all, or as respects any, of the recipients or intended recipients of any message, sound or visual image intended to be conveyed by the radio communication; ( c ) in considering whether in any particular case any interference with any radio communication caused or likely to be caused by the use of any apparatus is or is not undue interference, regard shall be had to all the known circumstances of the case and the interference shall not be regarded as undue interference if so regarded it would unreasonably cause hardship to the person using or desiring to use the apparatus.

shall not be regarded as undue interference if so regarded it would unreasonably cause hardship to the person using or desiring to use the apparatus.

PART II ESTABLISHMENT, OBJECTS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CORPORATION. 2. Establishment of the corporation. (1) There is established a corporation to be known as the Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. (2) The corporation shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue or be sued in its corporate name. (3) The corporation may, for and in connection with its functions under this Act, purchase, acquire, hold, manage and dispose of any movable or immovable property and may enter into such contracts and other transactions as may be expedient. 3. Objects of the corporation. (1) The objects of the corporation shall be to provide postal and telecommunications services within and outside Uganda and to regulate and control radio communications operated from or received in Uganda.

postal and telecommunications services within and outside Uganda and to regulate and control radio communications operated from or received in Uganda.

(2) The corporation shall conduct its business on commercial principles and shall perform its functions in such manner as to secure that, taking one year with another, its income is not less than sufficient to meet its expenditure which is properly chargeable to revenue account and as to further ensure that its net operating income is not less than sufficient to secure an annual return on the value of the net fixed assets in operation by the corporation of such percentage as the Minister may from time to time direct. 4. Board of directors. (1) The corporation shall have a board of directors consisting of a chairperson, the managing director and not less than six nor more than eight other members. (2) The chairperson and the other members of the board other than the managing director shall be appointed by the Minister for a period of three years and upon such terms and conditions as may be specified in the instruments of appointment and shall be eligible for reappointment.

eriod of three years and upon such terms and conditions as may be specified in the instruments of appointment and shall be eligible for reappointment.

(3) No person shall be appointed a member of the board who— ( a ) is not a person of experience in financial affairs, business, administration or professional occupation; ( b ) is an insolvent or bankrupt person; or ( c ) has been convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty. (4) Any member of the board may resign his or her office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Minister, or may be removed from office by the Minister for inability to perform the functions of his or her office or for any other sufficient reason. 5. Duties of the board.

ed from office by the Minister for inability to perform the functions of his or her office or for any other sufficient reason. 5. Duties of the board.

(1) It shall be the duty of the board to ensure— ( a ) the fullest development consistent with economy of the undertaking of the corporation; ( b ) that the undertaking of the corporation is operated efficiently, economically and with due regard to safety; ( c ) that the financial administration of the corporation is conducted in accordance with this Act; ( d ) that the corporation provides all reasonable facilities for the transmission of postal articles by means of special services, for the remission of money by means of money order services and for communication by means of the telephone and telegraph services; ( e ) that no particular person is given undue preference or subjected to undue disadvantage. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)( e ), the board may— ( a ) afford priority to the Government in the transmission of communications; ( b ) afford priority to any category of persons in the installations of telephone apparatus where, in the opinion of the board, the circumstances do not permit the installation of telephone apparatus in the case of all persons making application for telephone apparatus. 6. Powers of the board.

s do not permit the installation of telephone apparatus in the case of all persons making application for telephone apparatus. 6. Powers of the board.

(1) The board shall be the governing body of the corporation and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may, subject to the approval of the Minister— ( a ) determine the tariffs of the postal, telephone and telegraph services that are provided by the corporation; ( b ) determine the salaries, wages or other terms and conditions of service of employees of the corporation; and ( c ) determine the organisation or establishment of the corporation. (2) The Minister shall be responsible for the general directions and control of the corporation and may in that behalf give directions of a general nature to the board. 7. Meetings of the board. (1) The board shall meet for the discharge of its functions under this Act at least once every two months at such time and place as the chairperson may appoint or upon the request to the chairperson of a majority of the members of the board. (2) The chairperson shall preside at all meetings of the board and in his or her absence, such member of the board as the members present shall appoint, shall preside.

on shall preside at all meetings of the board and in his or her absence, such member of the board as the members present shall appoint, shall preside.

(3) Questions proposed at a meeting of the board shall be determined by a simple majority of the members of the board present and voting; and in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote. (4) A member of the board who has any personal interest in any transaction or matter before the board shall disclose the nature of his or her interest to the board and shall be disqualified from taking part in the deliberations of the board with respect to that transaction or matter. (5) The board shall cause to be recorded and kept minutes of the proceedings of every meeting of the board; and the minutes shall be confirmed at the next meeting; and when the minutes are confirmed, they shall be signed by the chairperson in the presence of the members of the board. (6) Half of the members shall form a quorum. (7) Subject to subsections (1) to (6), the board may regulate its own procedure. 8. Remuneration of members. The chairperson and the other members of the board may be paid suc This section of the article is only available for our subscribers. Please click here to subscribe to a subscription plan to view this part of the article.

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